Page 15 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

"Who?" I frowned at her.

"Our families. They must be looking for us. The police must be looking for us. This many of us going missing, they'll be looking everywhere." She looked heartbreakingly hopeful.

"Of course they will," I said with as much certainty as I could muster, considering I felt none at all. The twins were missing. Slade might be behind this. My sister certainly didn't give a shit. My father wouldn't be looking for me if he blamed me for letting my guard down. The rest of the Brantley family would be happy to be rid of me, especially if they made a lot of money from selling me. The only consolation there was that maybe they'd be inspired to do the same to Chloe. If she did this to me, then she deserved nothing less.

"They might be waiting for us at… Wherever they're taking us," I said with a shrug. "A whole bunch of cops, ready to arrest their asses. They can lock them away to rot."

"I hear the guys in prison don't take kindly to fellow inmates who do horrible things to women." Mary looked surprisingly pleased at the thought.

I have to admit, I didn't mind it myself. "I hope some big, ugly asshole makes Brutus his bitch."

Mary laughed softly. "That would serve him right. I bet she's not the first one he's done something like that to. But she might be the last."

"She's definitely not the first," I agreed. I didn't want to think too much about how many went before her. Mary was right, Danica should be the last.

"Any idea when they're taking us?" Mary asked. "Are there just… Places men go to… To buy women?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I suppose there must be." My father never told me and I never asked. Part of me wished I had, but the knowledge wouldn't help me now anyway. Not unless I knew a way out.

"I've never—" Mary whispered. "You know, been with anyone."

I didn't know why she was telling me that until she added, "I was waiting for my first time to be special. Not… Forced." Her voice was choked with emotion.

"I don't think being raped gets any better even if you've fucked a bunch of times," I said, more coldly than I meant to sound.

"I didn't mean to suggest it was," she said quickly. "I just… I want to go home." She sniffed.

"We all do," I said gently. As gently as I was capable of anyway. "We will get out of this. Didn't we already agree the police would be waiting for us at the other end of this? Or our families."

Was there any chance the twins were looking for me? Was there even a chance Hades lied and Slade was looking for me too? Hell, I'd even cling to a kernel of hope that my father was looking for me. If I didn't hold on to that, I might consider giving up and that was something I wasn't going to do. I couldn't let despair get to me. If I did, it would cloud my judgement and force me to make mistakes.

I needed a clear head and rock solid determination. If I was going to fall apart, it would have to wait until later.

"Yes, we did agree on that," Mary said. "Do you think it's possible?"

She was clearly looking to me to keep her spirits up. If she only knew who I really was, she'd be looking in every direction but mine.

"Not only is it possible, it's probable," I lied. "Brutus and Hades and the other assholes should be pissing themselves right about now. And whoever they're working for. I hope they're enjoying their last moments of freedom. They're about to lose that."

Mary's teeth flashed white in the dim light. "I can't wait," she said breathlessly. "I hope we get to see the looks on their faces. That moment they realise how screwed they are."

"Yeah that would be… Good." It would be better than good if it ever actually happened, but what were the chances? Not as good as I would have liked them to be.

"What did you mean when you said you were infamous?" She brushed tangled hair off her forehead.

I suppressed a wince. I'd hoped she hadn't picked up on that and wouldn't ask.

"I just meant I'm good at getting into trouble," I said evasively. "I mean, I ended up here, didn't I? What happened to you? How did you get taken?" Anything to change the subject.

She sighed. "I went on a date with a guy I thought was nice and decent. I thought we had a nice time. He took me to dinner. It was nothing fancy. We talked about all sorts of things, you know? Work, family, shit like that. I guess he slipped something into my drink, because I woke up on the back of this truck."

"What a prick," I said. She struck me as the innocent, naïve type. Someone all too easy to take advantage of. The opposite of me, most of the time.

"He really was." She nodded. "What happened to you? How did you get here?"

"I think it was about the same thing." My brow furrowed in thought. "The last thing I remember was getting a coffee in the… My university coffee shop." If she didn't know about Brutham Academy, then I wasn't going to enlighten her. The rest of the world wasn't ready to know about the existence of such a fucked up place.

"The next thing I knew, I woke up here too. I guess the barista put something in my drink too."

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